By Anne Gelhaus
Agreeing that historic preservation outweighed zoning issues in this case, the Town Council last week gave Tom Albanese the go-ahead to construct bocce ball courts in an industrial zone.
The council's 4-0-1 vote (Steve Blanton, who was late to the Feb. 20 public hearing, abstained) overturned a January decision by the Planning Commission to deny Albanese's application to convert the former Puccinelli Dehydrator Factory, 565 University Ave., into a bocce ball club. At that time, the commission cited concerns about allowing a recreational facility in an industrial zone.
At last week's public hearing, commercial real-estate agent John Travis told the council that, in the three years he's been marketing the property, Albanese has been the only one interested in preserving the historic building on the site.
"The highest and best use is residential," Travis added, "but the Planning Commission doesn't want to do that at all."
Planning Director Lee Bowman said that the building, an old warehouse that has fallen into disrepair, is historic under town code only by virtue of having been constructed before 1941.
"It's not designated in the sense of the La Cañada building, which is protected under ordinance," he added.
Bowman also pointed out that under the terms of a conditional-use permit, the property could be used for industrial purposes again should Albanese close his bocce ball club.
Albanese's architect Ken Rodriguez argued that the fact that his project was designed to save the building made it a unique case.
"We're not setting a precedent for someone else to come in and do something similar," he told the council. "The building has a lot of serious structural problems that this application will solve."
Kris Wiley, who lives across the street from the site, said she looks forward to seeing the property improved.
"I've watched the destruction of the building as the result of no one using it," Wiley said. "It's clean land, and I don't think bocce ball courts are going to cause any spoilage.
"I really hope this goes through," she added, "because this end of town has been dead and, as a result, people abuse it. I think some of that will be alleviated if there's a business there."
Another neighbor said he thought Albanese's project was a good use of the property.
"Bocce ball's a great game," said Peter Havisich, a University Avenue resident. "Any town can have a pool hall or a bowling alley. This is something that's really unique."
But Dorothy Shattuck, who lives a block from the site, said she thought the town should hold out for an applicant who'd find an industrial use for the property.
"I don't have the desire to see the leisured class in my neighborhood," she added. "Just what is bocce ball, and how do you play it?"
Rolando Negrini, vice president of the Los Gatos Bocce Club, told Shattuck she could come to Oak Meadow Park on Sunday mornings to see club members play the game.
"It's like shuffleboard with a ball," he added.
Robin Tole, chairwoman of the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, told the council that the chamber's board of directors had voted to support Albanese's project.
"It would restore and clean up a historical property," Tole said, "and, most importantly, the bocce ball club would generate sales revenue in town."
In voting to approve Albanese's project, the Town Council also agreed to rescind a condition of his application and allow him to replace the building's corrugated metal siding with wood paneling.
"It's highly unlikely that the metal siding was part of the original structure," architect Rodriguez told the council. "It's the only building in the area that has it, and the material was only in use on the East Coast at the time the warehouse was built."
"Trying to maintain the metal siding would continue to make the building an eyesore," said Mayor Randy Attaway.
Even though he abstained from the vote, Councilmember Blanton voiced his support for Albanese's appeal.
"This is a creative proposal that tries to maintain a building that, perhaps wrongly, has been deemed historic," Blanton said, adding that if the building didn't have to be preserved, an industrial use probably could have been found for the site. "I'd hate to see our historical regulations so cumbersome that they hinder rather than advance."
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 28, 1996.
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